LD Aron Kiviharju - IFK Helsinki, Liiga (2024, 122nd, MIN) Part2

[thestonedkoala]

Has there ever been any prospect that has dropped and then became a top 5 prospect/player? Off the top of my head, Rossi was seen as a top 5 guy, but dropped. He's been pretty good. Peyton Krebs is meh. Martin Frk never developed. Maybe Shane Wright? Went from top pick to 4th, but does that really count?

 

[BB88]

Has there ever been any prospect that has dropped and then became a top 5 prospect/player? Off the top of my head, Rossi was seen as a top 5 guy, but dropped. He's been pretty good. Peyton Krebs is meh. Martin Frk never developed. Maybe Shane Wright? Went from top pick to 4th, but does that really count?

Lambert is still to be seen, he dropped pretty heavily but now things are looking helluva lot better

55 points in 64 games in the AHL and lighting fast

 

[BagHead]

Has there ever been any prospect that has dropped and then became a top 5 prospect/player? Off the top of my head, Rossi was seen as a top 5 guy, but dropped. He's been pretty good. Peyton Krebs is meh. Martin Frk never developed. Maybe Shane Wright? Went from top pick to 4th, but does that really count?

Top 5 in their respective draft, you mean? Why, your very own Matt Boldy qualifies, I think (if you're considering Rossi, anyway). Usually guys fall for a reason. Sometimes those reasons are stupid and result in a good player becoming available later than they should be.

Brandon Saad is another off the top of my head. I wouldn't call him top-5 in his draft, but he's a far shot better than 43rd. In the summer before his draft year he was being talked about as going in the top-5 or top-10.

With Kiviharju, the uncertainty due to injuries is a pretty good reason, but if his health holds he may outshine his draft spot by a lot.

 

[William H Bonney]

Has there ever been any prospect that has dropped and then became a top 5 prospect/player? Off the top of my head, Rossi was seen as a top 5 guy, but dropped. He's been pretty good. Peyton Krebs is meh. Martin Frk never developed. Maybe Shane Wright? Went from top pick to 4th, but does that really count?

It's very rare. People have a hard time letting go of hype, even when it starts way too early in most cases. The list of drastic prospect "sliders" whose slides were justified in hindsight is extremely long. The list of guys who proved the slide wrong is not.

Not that it doesn't happen but it's usually not on severe sliders. Nearly every big slider based on their pre-U17 hype ends up getting a ton of folks here saying they're a steal and they're going to prove people wrong. Whether it was Angelo Esposito, Rob Schremp, Evan McGrath, Jake Wise, Oliver Kylington, and on and on and on. Sometimes the sliders do end up proving people wrong to an extent, but it's usually not the huge sliders, just the slight ones a la Mat Barzal. A guy like Saad is a bigger slide example, although his NHL career has been very up and down, even if he's still a plus value in the 2nd round.

 

[thestonedkoala]

Top 5 in their respective draft, you mean? Why, your very own Matt Boldy qualifies, I think (if you're considering Rossi, anyway). Usually guys fall for a reason. Sometimes those reasons are stupid and result in a good player becoming available later than they should be.

Brandon Saad is another off the top of my head. I wouldn't call him top-5 in his draft, but he's a far shot better than 43rd. In the summer before his draft year he was being talked about as going in the top-5 or top-10.

With Kiviharju, the uncertainty due to injuries is a pretty good reason, but if his health holds he may outshine his draft spot by a lot.

Boldy wasn't considered a top pick though. He did slide a little bit compared to his teammates he was considered the biggest project.

Yes! I forgot about Esposito. Also Schroeder.

 

[Hockeyville USA]

Selected by Moncton in the 2024 CHL Import Draft

 

[David Suzuki]

Moncton is likely to be a top 2 or 3 team in the Q next year for what that's worth. Be cool if he came over, but I doubt it.

 

[Fixed to Ruin]

Moncton is likely to be a top 2 or 3 team in the Q next year for what that's worth. Be cool if he came over, but I doubt it.

The owner is one of the richest men in Canada.

When Moncton wants a top player they usually make it happen.

 

[teravaineSAROS]

Moncton is likely to be a top 2 or 3 team in the Q next year for what that's worth. Be cool if he came over, but I doubt it.

Nowadays it seems like going to North America has been a great solution for Finnish prospects.

He could get some offense going there and he could work on his skating. Liiga is such a defensive league now it's stifling players offense.

 

[ChicagoBullsFan]

Nowadays it seems like going to North America has been a great solution for Finnish prospects.

He could get some offense going there and he could work on his skating. Liiga is such a defensive league now it's stifling players offense.

Absolutely true.
SM liiga today is more soccer on the ice than real hockey.

Hopefully Minnesota Wild management has brains left
and they do only right thing and put Kiviharju into Moncton.

CHL is world's best development league and world's best hoaches work there
so better to go there than staying to HIFK which has been most injury prone team last 10-12 yrs.
HIFK has weak and meh roster for coming SM liiga season so it is better for Kiviharju to go QMJHL.

 

[Albatros]

Again, he has a Liiga contract until 2025 and unless HIFK releases him that's where he'll be.

 

[MNRube]

Absolutely true.
SM liiga today is more soccer on the ice than real hockey.

Hopefully Minnesota Wild management has brains left
and they do only right thing and put Kiviharju into Moncton.

CHL is world's best development league and world's best hoaches work there
so better to go there than staying to HIFK which has been most injury prone team last 10-12 yrs.
HIFK has weak and meh roster for coming SM liiga season so it is better for Kiviharju to go QMJHL.

CHL would be the worst thing for this kid. He needs to learn to defend against men. NCAA or AHL would be much better than playing pond hockey in the Q

 

[oooooooooohCanada]

Has there ever been any prospect that has dropped and then became a top 5 prospect/player? Off the top of my head, Rossi was seen as a top 5 guy, but dropped. He's been pretty good. Peyton Krebs is meh. Martin Frk never developed. Maybe Shane Wright? Went from top pick to 4th, but does that really count?

Liljegren? He was seen as like guaranteed top 5, could challenge higher I believe. Ended up going 17th? After mono+injuries in his draft year. He's nothing special but is definitely an NHLer and has very strong underlyings. Probably tops out as a #4.

 

[Circulartheory]

Has there ever been any prospect that has dropped and then became a top 5 prospect/player? Off the top of my head, Rossi was seen as a top 5 guy, but dropped. He's been pretty good. Peyton Krebs is meh. Martin Frk never developed. Maybe Shane Wright? Went from top pick to 4th, but does that really count?

By drop, do you just mean a few spots since your mentioning Rossi and Wright?

Off the top of my head...Sean Couturier, Filip Forsberg, Cam Fowler, Matthew Barzal etc.

Or did you mean into like the 4th round since this is a Kiviharju thread?